Coming off two strong wins at Hamilton Pool from the previous weekend, the men's swimming team entered this week's meets with confidence. Its undefeated season continued with wins over MIT and Bates improving the team to 7-0.
The Jumbos, used to having more swimmers than opposing teams, faced MIT with fairly equal depth on Thursday. That made no difference however, as Tufts dominated the Engineers, 140-101.
The victory was fueled by the efforts of junior Ed Edson and sophomore Tyler Duckworth, who both grabbed a pair of first-place finishes.
Edson's wins came in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:49.00 and a 49.51 finish in the 100 freestyle. In the 100 event, Edson surpassed his season-best 49.53 finish earlier this year against Bowdoin.
Duckworth nabbed his two first-place finishes in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:00.02, and the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:12.99. Duckworth blasted the rest of the competition in the breaststroke event, winning by over seven seconds and securing himself the fastest finish in the NESCAC's this season.
Other notable performances included strong finishes in the diving competition, with David Liebenstein, Jonathan Perry, and Connell Cloyd holding the top three spots, earning the Jumbos 32 points overall.
Coach Don Megerle considered the event to be the Jumbos best competition since the meet against Bowdoin before the break.
"This year's team has a great attitude," Megerle said. "They are showing great initiative."
Unlike last week's two-day two-event schedule, Tufts was able to have a few days cushion between events to rest for Bates. This lapse between meets helped rejuvenate the Jumbos to another solid victory, as they outswam the Bobcats, 161-139.
Saturday's victory could be attributed to strong overall contributions from many. Though swimming with much more depth against Bates, Tufts put up its second highest scoring total since its 188 point opening performance against Clark.
"Overall, I was pretty pleased with our efforts for both meets," said freshman Rich Halpert. "We swam well, and hopefully our training will pay off by the end of the season."
The victory was characterized by a number of one-two finishes.
Freshman Seth Baron and sophomore Aeric Solow gave strong performances in the 200 butterfly, finishing one and two with the respective times of 2:02.69 and 2:05.67. In the 200 backstroke, Edson combined with sophomore Kaili Mauricio to have another one-two finish. The two were within less than a second of each other, as Edson's time was clocked at 2:04.14, while Mauricio finished in 2:04.58. In the 200 breaststroke, Duckworth and freshman Michael Rochette completed the race in the top two as well, with the respective times of 2:18.96, and 2:23.41.
With this past week's two wins, the Jumbos appear quite confident and optimistic for the upcoming weeks. "We just have to remain physically and mentally prepared for the rest of the season," senior captain Tim Bouley said. "We will be facing the top teams within a few weeks, and we need to remain optimistic from our good swims."
Despite defeating all their NESCAC competitors thus far, Tufts has yet to face swimming powerhouses Amherst, Wesleyan, and Williams. All three teams finished in the top three in last year's championships, while Tufts ended the season with a fifth place performance. Hamilton, who also was among the higher-placing teams last year in the championships, is at 4-2 this year and should finish amidst the top teams again this year.
"Our winning is all relative," Megerle said earlier in the year. "We know we will be facing good competition in the championships. Williams, Hamilton, and others have very strong squads. We just need to get ready, remain enthusiastic, and respect each other."
Tufts' swimming has been gaining steady momentum since the beginning of the season, with its strong upset of Babson earlier in the year. There has been no sign of rust in the water, despite the three-week hiatus from racing over the winter break. The Jumbos have defeated their competition by an average of 33 points since their return.
Next the Jumbos will host a strong Brandeis squad, who is 6-0 in head-to-head competition. The meet will be held this coming Saturday at Hamilton Pool, and will be the last meet before March's NESCAC championships.
@s:Team dominating competition this season
